No Sidewalks

“If a street has a spirit, no matter how narrow it is, we can breathe comfortably over there.” 

                           – Mehmet Murat Ildan

Our road does not have sidewalks. And at one time it did not have much traffic. At one time children played in the streets with very little interruption of street hockey or hopscotch by the panicked cry of “Car!". At one time one of our cats took her afternoon nap on the sun-baked asphalt – in the middle of the road. And she could finish her nap, stretch, and saunter back to the yard, never having been disturbed.

Our road still does not have sidewalks. But there are no  chalk hopscotch patterns nor shinny games on the road anymore. The traffic has increased and I hear more of that noise than the sound of bird song I used to hear on my walk to the bus stop.  I can no longer saunter down the middle of the road like it was a country lane. Now I must hug the edges of the road.

But I still don’t want sidewalks.  Because my street still has the spirit of a country road, even if it doesn’t have the actuality.